When True Met Bartleby
by Matthais Unidostres
Summary: A character study that explores the backstories of the two main characters.


**When True Met Bartleby**

"Zip! Zap! Zoo! I choose you!" said the 7-year-old girl as she spun around and hit a button on her sash, causing one of the Wishes in her pack to fly out, "Wake up, Zil-Yun! Wish come true!"

Zil-Yun giggled and landed in her hands.

"Alright, Zil-Yun," True said with a confident smile, "Make a hundred copies of that cupcake to replace the ones that got ruined."

The wish laughed merrily as it quickly duplicated the remaining cupcake one hundred times, filling the Rainbow Castle kitchen with the delectable treats.

"Thank you, Zil-Yun! The royal bake sale saved!" True cheered.

Nearby, the also 7-year-old Princess Grizelda held her dog Frookie in her arms and said, "Well, I'm quite sure my little Frookie-kins won't knock over those cupcakes again." She then rubbed the pup's belly and said lovingly, "Will you, Sweetie-muffin?"

Frookie just barked in reply.

The royal bake sale turned out to be a big success, in spite of its setback. Several hours later, when it was all over with, the Rainbow King himself went to congratulate the blue haired human girl.

"Thank you so much, True. You've done it again!" the king said.

True smiled bashfully and said, "Well, it's the Wishes that do all of the work, really."

"Ah yes, but _you _are the only one in the entire Kingdom, perhaps the entire _world_, who is able to activate their powers; _and _you have always used them well," the king said. Then he smiled and looked off into space as he said thoughtfully, "To think, it's been scarcely a year since Zee discovered that you possessed that amazing ability, and you've done so much good in a such a short amount of time."

True blushed and said, "Well, I always do whatever I can to help out anyone who needs it. With the Wishes' help, I can solve pretty much any problem with a little thinking."

"Indeed," the king said with a nod, "Well then, I shall bid you goodnight, True. Be sure to look up at the sky tomorrow morning. A rain storm is due during the night, which means a rainbow is sure to follow when it comes to an end."

"Ooh, that's wonderful!" True said, her blue eyes sparkling with wonder and excitement at the prospect of waking up to a rainbow. She then bowed respectfully to the Rainbow King and said, "Goodnight, your majesty."

So, the little girl cheerfully left the Rainbow Castle and made her way back to her home. As she walked through the Rainbow Kingdom, various citizens waved at her, greeting her cheerfully. True would always smile and wave back, occasionally bidding the citizens goodnight or mentioning the coming rainbow. Ever since True began to use her ability to activate the Wishes' magic to solve any major problem that happened to pop up, True had become quite well known and very popular throughout the Rainbow Kingdom. On top of that, she would always do whatever she could to help others, with or without Wish help.

All in all, it appeared that clearly life was good. Very good. Anyone who saw True's smile would say that the girl clearly had a very happy life.

True soon arrived at her home, which was shaped like a giant mushroom with pink and yellow stripes. True opened the door and went inside. The moment the door closed behind her, True's smile disappeared. She sighed sadly as she took a long look around the empty house.

If you were to ask anyone why this girl, out of all the citizens of the Rainbow Kingdom, was able to unlock the power of the Wishes, you'd generally get similar answers. Some would cite her clever mind. Others might bring up her boundless energy. Still others would point out how she would always accept every challenge with a beaming smile. However, one quality that would _always_ come up was her warm heart. Indeed, True had a _very_ warm heart, but it was also a very _big_ heart, and the thing about big hearts is that they have a constant desire to give out, and take in, as much love and care as they can. This is what made True the ideal host for the power of the Wishes. She truly had the biggest heart in the entire Rainbow Kingdom.

However, True's wonderful heart had a distinct drawback, which was magnified by her unique but unfortunate status. This 7-year-old girl, that everyone loved and wanted to be friends with, was an orphan, and had been for quite some time. Precocious and self-reliant as she was, she was still an orphan, and therefore lived all alone. But she did have people who cared for her, namely the Rainbow King and Zee the Wishologist.

Zee was the only human True was close to, which might not be saying that much considering that humans were actually quite rare in the Rainbow Kingdom. Although, she didn't really see him very often, as Zee was more of a homebody that lived and spent nearly all his time within the Wishing Tree. This was so he could focus on his passion; studying and occasionally training the Wishes. At times, True couldn't help but feel that Zee was a very lucky person. Although he too was an orphan, Zee always had all of the Wishes to keep him company and make him feel loved, while True pretty much didn't have anybody. Even Princess Grizelda had her dog and her Grizmos.

True would always spend as much time as possible out and about in the Rainbow Kingdom, either seeing who she could help or have fun with or playing with whatever cute little animals she came across in the Neverending Forest. She disliked, and perhaps even feared, rainy days that kept her inside her house. True's heart needed to share its love, and True enjoyed doing so; but her extra big heart also needed to feel the love of another. So, every night, when she returned to the house where she lived all by lonesome, her heart felt almost hungry for love.

True sniffled a bit as the feelings of loneliness returned with the ending of another day in the Rainbow Kingdom. Wish magic and the happiness that came from solving problems and having others like her would simply make her forget that what she _really_ needed was for someone to _love _her.

While her heart was hungry, her stomach wasn't, so True walked sadly up to her room to turn in for the night. She slowly changed into her pajamas and got under the covers, not saying a word and continuing to frown, her eyes downcast and somber. This saddened True was a far cry

from the strong and optimistic heroine the Rainbow Kingdom knew and loved. That being said, True was not _hiding_ this part of herself away from others. Nor was she bottling up her real emotions. True really _was _optimistic and happy whenever she was around others and activating the Wishes' powers, but whenever True was alone, she would always find herself. . . _wishing._

That's right. In a great twist of irony, True, the one who possessed the ability to unlock the power of the Wishes, lay in her bed _wishing_ that she didn't have to feel so alone every night and every morning. She wished that she could have someone who she would say good night and good morning to. She wished that she could have someone who would say good night and good morning to her. She wished that she had someone to talk with during breakfast about what the day would be like, and during dinner about how the day had been. She wished she had someone who she trusted enough, and was trusted by enough, to share the deepest of secrets with without fear. She wished she had someone to cook for (Little known fact, True is actually a _very_ good cook). She wished that she had someone she could say "I love you" to without feeling the least bit awkward or embarrassed, and then hear an honest "I love you, too," in reply.

It was on these thoughts, these wishes, that she dwelt upon as she slowly drifted off to sleep.

* * *

Sometime later, True was jolted awake by a loud knocking sound. She could hear the sound of the rain coming down outside as she looked over at the clock on her nightstand. It was 11 O'clock, and the first thought that True's head could come up with was how tired she'd be in the morning.

More knocking brought True further out of her sleep, and she quickly got out of bed and put her slippers on. She could tell that the knocking was coming from the front door. She turned on the lights as she approached the door.

The Rainbow Kingdom was a very safe place, so True didn't hesitate to open the door to see who was there. To her surprise, the unexpected visitor turned out to be a cat with indigo fur and blue eyes. The cat was clearly soaked to the skin due to the rain, and he had a desperate look in his eyes.

Just as True was about to invite the cat inside and out of the rain, the cat beat her to the punch and began speaking very quickly in a voice fueled by the very same desperation that he held in his eyes.

"Okay, first off I know it's the middle of the night and no one likes being woken up at a time like this, so thanks for answering the door at this hour, that's really kind of you, but I was just passing through when the neighborhood when the sky starting pouring horrible wet water one me, and cats hate water, in case you didn't know, but I'm pretty sure you did cause everyone knows that, so I decided to just run to the closest house and hope whoever lived there would let me in until the rain stops, did I mention this rain is wet and horrible and wet and wet- _can I please come in,_ _**please**_!?"

The cat put his forepaws together in a begging position, and he made his eyes as big as he could.

True was caught off guard by the cat's motor mouth, but she quickly refocused and stepped

aside, saying, "Oh, you poor thing! Come in, come in!"

The cat ran inside, and True quickly closed the door to shut out the falling rain and howling winds. "I'll got get you a towel," she said, and she quickly ran off to retrieve one. Soon enough, True was quickly blotting the cat dry with a soft bath towel.

"What were you doing out there?" True asked as she finished drying the cat off, "Everyone should be snug in their beds at home during a night like tonight."

The cat averted his eyes and said, "Well, yeah, you right about that. Totally right. But, ya see, I couldn't exactly get back to the forest before it started raining like crazy, so-."

"You _live_ in the Neverending Forest?" True asked in shock.

The cat shrugged, "I . . . guess so? I mean, there's tons of hollow logs there. Sure, they say your home is your castle, but it's the best I can do."

The girl looked down at the cat, who had a fake looking smile on his face, and her heart immediately went out to him.

"Okay," True said calmly, "First things first. My name is True. What's your name?"

True held out her hand to the cat, and he shook it with his paw and replied, "I'm Bartleby."

"How do you do?" True asked with a smile.

Bartleby shivered a bit and said, "For a cat that just came out of a horribly wet and cold rainstorm. . ." Bartleby shrugged with a nonchalant expression on his face and said, "Eh, not so bad."

True led Bartleby to the kitchen table and said, "Take a seat, Bartleby. I'll fix you some nice warm milk."

As the girl went to the refrigerator to get the milk, Bartleby waved his paw and said, "Aw, you don't have to go to any trouble for little old me-_did you say milk_?"

True turned and chuckled at how the cat's eyes widened and his ears perked up. She then poured some milk into a kettle and began warming it on the stove. True then brought her attention back on Bartleby, who was now sitting in one of the leaf chairs.

"Bartleby," True began, keeping her voice soft and sympathetic, "Why do you live in the Neverending Forest? I mean, that doesn't seem right. Did you get lost? Are you far from home?"

Bartleby looked down at the floor and said, "I don't know, True. See, even if I could go back, I wouldn't want to. I mean, there's just nothing left there anymore." He then looked back up at True and said with a determined look in his eyes, "So, yeah, why go back? There's no one there for me anymore. I'm a strong, independent ninja cat! I've got my Yellow Tabby-Belt! I don't need anyone no more. Yup, that's me! An independent ninja cat!"

Despite the cat's strong bravado, True could still feel the cat's sadness at this point. "Do you. . . want to talk about it?" she offered gently.

Bartleby's confidence slipped a little bit, but he folded his arms and said, "Talk about it? Sure! Totally. I'll totally give you my life story. Sure thing. Awesome story. I oughta write a book. Really something. Yeah. . ."

True carefully took a step towards him and said, "You don't _have to _if you don't-."

"No-no-no-no, it's fine," Bartleby said shortly, "So, yeah, I lived in a village of cats far away from here. It was fine, except for all the monsters that lived right outside the village. But it wasn't all bad! It was a good news-bad news kinda thing. The good news was that it inspired me to become a ninja cat so I could defend the village from the monsters. I trained with a bunch of other cats my age, and I earned my Yellow Tabby-Belt, proving that I was totally meant to be a ninja cat. The bad news was that. . . well. . . monsters outside the village!" Bartleby's ears and whiskers began to slowly but surely droop as he continuing relating his story, rubbing his forearm and looking everywhere expect at True, "And that bad news becomes really bad news when you and your parents are fisher cats who catch fish at a lake on the outskirts of town and a really huge monster shows up and you want to fight it with the cool ninja moves you know since you've got a Yellow Tabby-Belt but your parents tell you to run and then order you to run and then _beg and plead_ for you to run and never look back so that's what you do even though you can hear the monster-."

The shrill sound of the kettle whistling caused both the cat and girl to jump with fright. During Bartleby's monologue, True's eyes had been wide and her heart had been pounding. Her heart had also been aching and breaking for this poor cat, thus the unexpected interruption had surprised her greatly. She managed to use Zee's breathing techniques to calm herself down, and she quickly turned off the stove and poured the milk into a mug.

"Don't burn yourself," True said as she set the mug of steaming milk on the mushroom table in front of Bartleby, "And, you don't have to say anymore if-."

"I'm good," Bartleby said quickly, "I mean, you probably want to know how I got here, at least? Not that it's interesting or anything. See, I just wandered aimlessly for a while, got no clue how to get back to the village even if I wanted to. Then I spent some time in the forest until I got curious about the big kingdom nearby, so I decided to take a look about yesterday," Bartleby grinned as he swung his arms around swiftly, and he said mysteriously, "I used my ninja cat skills to evade detection." His grin faded as he continued, "But then I got kinda lost in the city, and the Sun started going down. Then I ended up around here when it started raining. It was so horribly wet that I figured I'd just take a chance and hope that someone in one of these houses would just let me stay until the rain stopped. Sure, there was a chance they might say _'scram, go away'_ and slam the door, but-."

"How could anyone turn away someone in need?" True asked, as if what Bartleby had suggested was physically impossible, "Especially if the help is so easy to give."

Bartleby put his paws around the mug and said, "Well, you sure went above and beyond with the help. The towel, the warm milk, this is super nice of you. I don't know how I'll ever repay you."

True shook her head and said, "You don't have to repay me, Bartleby. I just did the right thing. Besides, I know how it feels."

Bartleby looked at True in confusion, "You do? How? You have a nice, dry, warm house to live in." He then smiled a bit and said, "Seriously, this a very nice piece of property you got here. Furniture complements the rooms and wallpaper, convenient appliances, good lighting-."

True drummed her fingers together nervously and said, "What I mean is. . . my parents aren't with me either."

Bartleby blinked his eyes owlishly. ". . .Oh," was all he said.

Then, there was a silence. However, this silence was not an awkward silence. It wasn't even an uncomfortable silence. It was more of a _thoughtful _silence, and what the pair thought about was how surprisingly similar they were, and how strange it was for them to have met in such circumstances.

During this long moment, True's big heart seemed to cry out to the cat, and it didn't take long for True to decide to follow her heart and walk over to Bartleby. Then, she leaned over slightly and gently wrapped her arms around the cat.

Bartleby looked up at True, and then closed his eyes and purred, enjoying the hug. At that moment, he felt warmer and safer than he'd felt for quite some time.

A sudden flash of lightning and boom of thunder interrupted the moment, and Bartleby hissed as his fur stood up in fright. True jumped a bit, and held the cat a little closer.

The cat blinked his widened eyes, and he relaxed a bit. He then picked up the mug of warm milk and said, "Why does it have to rain anyway? It's loud and wet and cold and just awful. _Bleck_!"

True let Bartleby go so he could drink his milk, and she said, "Well, it might not seem very fun, but rain really is important. If it didn't rain, then all the trees and flowers wouldn't grow, the grass would turn brown, and we wouldn't get any rainbows."

Bartleby drank some of his milk, and he nodded his head and said, "Well. . . yeah, I guess that's all _true_. . ." Then he grinned slyly and said, "Pun intended."

True giggled at the joke, and then she said, "You know how I see it, Bartleby? Everyone goes through bad times every once in a while. Bad times are never fun, and sometimes they're hard to get through. But more often than not, good things can come out of bad times, like a rainbow after a rainstorm. You just have to stay positive and not lose hope, and things will get better. You'll see."

Bartleby was listening to True's words as he drank the warm milk, and he kept thinking on it, even as his eyelids began to droop. Before long, the cat was dozing and snoring softly.

"Aww," True said softly as she took in the adorable sight with a smile. It then occurred to her that the cat could certainly use a warm, comfy bed to sleep in. It didn't take too long for her to make up her mind on what to do.

Moving slowly and carefully, True gently picked up the cat and carried him up to her bedroom. She laid Bartleby into the right side of her bed, and then, after going back to turn off all the lights, she got in on the left side of the bed and covered them both up with the rainbow striped blanket.

Just as she began to drift off to sleep, True turned to the sleeping cat and said softly, "Goodnight, Bartleby. I love you."

Oddly enough, she hadn't planned on saying that last part. Rather, that's what her heart had wanted her to say, and amazingly, it really did feel right. After hearing Bartleby's story, True felt that the cat needed love just as much as she needed it, and so, it just felt right for her to be the one to help him.

So, with her new friend beside her, True did something she hadn't done in a very long time: True slept with a smile on her face.

* * *

_**Authot's Note: **_The story's not over yet. This is a multi-chapter story that I've already got planned out, but I'm going to take my time on this one. If you want a nice, sweet story focused more on character development than anything else, stay with this story and you'll be pleased.


End file.
